To support the NSW Government’s aim to boost the number of students studying languages, reliable baseline data about languages education is needed.

Principals of all primary and secondary schools across NSW have been asked to complete an online survey distributed by the Board of Studies, Teaching and Educational Standards (BOSTES) on Monday 22 August 2016.

The survey must be completed online via the link sent to the Principal by 9 September 2016. The survey asks for information on student participation, types of languages programs and languages teachers. School postcode and sector information is collected but information about individual schools will be de-identified.

The information received will make an important contribution to planning for languages education in NSW. It is important that you actively advocate for the collection of languages data from your school so that the survey can be completed and reliable data can be obtained.

BOSTES is currently seeking feedback on the Chinese and Japanese K-10 draft syllabuses.

Details of the consultation, including draft syllabus documents, consultation meeting dates and links to online surveys are on theBOSTES website.

The Languages and Culture team is holding an Adobe Connect session on Monday 5 September 2016 at 3:30pm. The session will review the key features of the draft syllabuses and highlight areas for teachers to consider when completing the relevant BOSTES survey.

All languages teachers are invited to join theAdobe Connect to be provided with an overview of how the K-10 Languages Framework forms a basis for language-specific syllabus development.

​Expressions of interest are invited from permanent teachers of languages to deliver a blended learning trial of the 100 hours mandatory language program to rural and remote schools.

The successful applicant would be released from their school for 0.6 FTE for the 2017 school year.

The position involves developing and delivering content of Stage 4 language in a virtual environment to participating schools.

A statement of claim (no more than two A4 pages, size 12 font) addressing the four selection criteria and the signed expression of interest form as a PDF should be submitted to elisabeth.robertson@det.nsw.edu.au by 5pm on Friday 2 December 2016.

If any teachers have implemented Enquiry Based Learning (EBL) with your Languages classes could you please share your experiences with other Languages teachers by adding a comment on the Languages NSW site. If you are receiving this post via email, you will need to go to this blog post on the website and click Add Comment under the post to access the Comment Field.

Western Sydney University is seeking secondary practicum placements for students completing the Master of Teaching Secondary course teaching Japanese, Chinese and Korean. Confirmations of placements are needed as soon as possible for the upcoming two practicums. Your support for these pre-service teachers would be most appreciated.

You do not need to register to join the session, just log ina few minutes before the meeting begins. The sessions will be recorded if you are not available at the meeting time.

If you’re new to using Adobe Connect, a detailed how-to-guide is available below and we recommend that you complete the connection tests prior to the event as it may take a few minutes depending on the computer you are using.

We look forward to meeting with you in the Secondary Languages meeting room.

BOSTES invites teachers to provide feedback on the proposed prescribed texts for 2019-2023 and issues for the following courses:Background Speakers: Chinese, Indonesian, Japanese and KoreanExtension: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Modern Greek and Spanish.

There is an online survey to complete via the BOSTES website until Sunday 11 September. BOSTES will hold screenings of two films which are more difficult for teachers to access at its 117 Clarence St, Sydney office. The screening dates and times are:

In addition, the NSW Department of Education will be screening Monooki no Piano (The Piano in the Shed) for the Japanese Extension course on Friday 19 August at 4:30pm at Rydges World Square following their Japanese conference.

Further information about the survey and film screenings at BOSTES, contact Jill Longhust, Senior Project Officer, on 9367 8389 or via email jill.longhurst@bostes.nsw.edu.au​